Lovely Little Things
by XXOceanBlueXX
Summary: She was in the wind, the grass, the playa. But mostly Jake heard her in the hoof beats of the wild horses, untamed and undomesticated. They echoed some kind of words that Jake was starting to think that maybe only he could understand.


**I liked writing Sam and Jake, so here goes another one. This one is a little more bittersweet and not quite so reflective. I do not own Phantom Stallion or any of the characters.**

**OooOooO**

"_For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul."_

_-Judy Garland_

She was in the wind, the grass, the playa. But mostly Jake heard her in the hoof beats of the wild horses, untamed and undomesticated. They echoed some kind of words that Jake was starting to think that maybe only he could understand.

"_Jake. I love you."_

They all thought he was crazy. He was old, forgotten, like a priceless gem. Something someone looked at but never touched. They didn't understand. Most of the people he knew were dead now, and only he was left. Though he loved them, missed them, he missed her more.

"_Jake, love. Don't the clouds look lovely today?"_

Jake glanced at the clouds. They were black and stormy, rain was coming. Those were the last words that Brat had ever said to him, and he heard them everyday that she wasn't there.

It was just like her to climb a tree at seventy years old to get a better look at sky. He had always figured that she would end up very similar to her mother. Save some creature at the cost of her own life. But the way she really went was just as fitting. He supposed that it was one of the reasons he fell in love with her.

Brat, did you have to be so predictable?

_She was all dressed in white and she was never as beautiful to him as when she was at that very moment. She was a fairy wrapped in a cloud (Clouds, what was her thing with clouds?) and she wasn't just any fairy she was his. He belonged to her and she belonged to him._

Thunder sounded and Jake looked up at the sky. The rain was coming soon, reminding him of the time so long ago when he broke his leg. It seemed just like yesterday, and yet, when he looked in the mirror a boy with raven hair and darker skin didn't look back at him, but an old man with wrinkles and gray hair. He seemed to shrug at Jake and say "Well, time flies by faster than you think."

_Samantha was riding Ace across the desert, and hadn't noticed that he was there until she looked over. She grinned and waved hello, eyes bright. Jake felt a pang ring from somewhere within him. Samantha liked Ryan? No way. She wouldn't…and yet she seemed to be around him a lot._

_What the heck did he care anyway? It wasn't as if…_

_But it was._

Jake felt the first drops of rain after he heard them hit his hat. They bounced off his hand, and soon his entire body was soaked. Storms could come or go in an instant, but he wasn't worried. He was old, he'd seen so many of these that he didn't suppose that one more would make a world of difference.

"_Jake, love. Don't the clouds look lovely today?"_

"Actually, Sam, it's pouring so hard the world might be drowned." Thunder rumbled.

_She was upset. He could tell by the way that she was breathing, could tell by the way that her skin was so pale that she looked more like a porcelain doll than a woman. Something was wrong, and it was bothering her._

"_Hey, Brat. What's the matter?"_

"_Jake…I almost went off the road. It was raining, and I started hydroplaning…" The rest was broken off into some incoherent sobs. Jake was next to her in an instant._

"_Sam, are you okay."_

_She nodded, still crying. She hugged him so tight that he thought his bones might break. Silently he prayed, thanking God for keeping her with him, for keeping Samantha safe._

Lightening flashed and Jake was certain he saw Sam. She twirled in the light before the flash disappeared and left the rest to darkness. He knew it wasn't really her, for she was only sixteen in that strange picture.

"You seeing ghosts, Ely?" He asked himself. The only answer was another bolt of lightening echoed by thunder. This time in the flash he did not see a dancing phantom, but the playa in an eerie color before it too became dark again.

_Samantha was climbing a tree. Jake was almost in shock, but at the same time he realized that he wasn't surprised. She's seventy and she isn't ever going to slow down. _

"_Jake," She waved him over as she continued to shinny up. _

"_What do you think you're doing? You're gonna fall." Jake warned, glancing up at his wife, sitting on the highest branch she could find that she was able to sit on. She smiled down at him, and Jake was horrified to see that it seemed to be sagging with her weight._

"_Samantha…"_

"_Jake, look at those clouds! They're simply marvelous! I see horses dancing in them - Jake! As flattered as I am, you should be looking at them and not me."_

"_Samantha!" This time it was more of a bark than a warning. "Get down!"_

"_Jake, love. Don't the clouds look lovely?" She pointed and leaned forward. The branch had had enough, snapping with the sound of death it ripped in two and Samantha fell. Her gray hair splayed and she landed._

_Jake felt lost._

"They did look lovely." He admitted, talking to himself again. "But they weren't worth it."

It hardly mattered. He'd be with her soon enough, and nothing could separate them then. No tree branches and no clouds.

_Funerals are an awful dark thing for people who were so bright._

He was cold. The rain had soaked well through his clothes a while ago, which left him shivering and ready to go home. He pulled Silky towards home, and away from the desert. Witch had died a while back, and while Silky was an excellent horse he still missed Witch.

The wind echoed her name. The grass whispered of her. The playa resounded with the beat of her heart. The hoof beats had her the most, but they didn't know her like Jake did.

It was all of these things that she remained but soon the breeze also whispered _"Jake, Jake and Sam." _The grass replied _"Together, together." _The Playa declared _"They always were." _

The clouds remained silent.

**OooOooO**

**Too weird? Bittersweet, right? Or maybe I pegged it wrong? Please leave a review!**


End file.
